anathema

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anathema

The Greek word is used in Luke 21: 5 of gifts in the Temple dedicated to God, but it came to have the opposite meaning—of a thing accursed. In Gal. 1: 9 Paul says of those preaching a different gospel: ‘Let that one be accursed!’ and this formula ‘Let him be anathema’ became
a standard denunciation of heretics by Church councils, e.g. the Council of Trent in 1545–64.